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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Some things that bug me

"I will use the theories of X, Y, Z [names of famous theorists]"

Followed by:

[plot summary of a novel, with no theoretical content]"

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"Use the pronoun that the student prefers."

[Usually I address everyone with the same, non-gendered pronouns:  you, or tĂș.]

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The confusion of gender identity with styles of gender presentation. The proliferation of identities that are more like styles.

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Politics (collective matters) confused with individual preferences.

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The reduction of politics to language, or the political correctness / incorrectness debate.  

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The idea of a spectrum. Some things have a spectrum, others do not.  If we put something on a spectrum, we are trivializing the problem represented by the extreme end of the spectrum.

1 comment:

Thomas said...

One thing that really bugs me is, "I use they/them/their pronouns." When do you do this? They're third-person pronouns. You're free to call me "they" instead of "he" if you want, but it will cause needless confusion. You can't tell me not refer to you as "she" when speaking to someone who reasonably thinks you are a woman. It's confusing. And you can't compel me to have a conversation with my interlocutor about your "identity issues" before making some passing remark about the obtuseness of your writing style. If your name is Mary, I'll probably just say, "I don't much like her style."